Darmstadt Tour, Part One... Hauptbahnhof

Well, as promised, I am posting some of the pictures I took of the wonderful city that I live in called Darmstadt. Where else better to start than at the hauptbahnhof or 'central station'... usually the first thing people see when entering a city for the first time. From here you can basically go anywhere in Europe by train... very convenient. This is also the place where I got my first German fine as I was apparently sitting in the first class section of a crappy little subway train running from Darmstadt to Frankfurt. I couldn't tell the difference, it all looked the same to me... and the only reason I sat the was because the pressure valve on the door was broken and making an obnoxious noise, and therefore I figured that no one would bother me. The only way one knows if they are in the first class 'section' is by a little 3 inch by 3 inch sticker with a number on it. Normally they let you go with a warning, but since I was American they gave me the maximum fine, which all my co-workers found crazy. Luckily the transit authority guy was stupid and didn't give me my ticket back, so when I went in to pay my fine I didn't have my ticket to prove that I actually did not have a first class ticket and the fine was thrown out... so ha, take that authority!

Anyways, most Germans commute to work by either train or bus, but if they live too far away from a bus stop they will ride their bike. A lot of them ride to the hauptbahnhof and then take a train to Frankfurt everyday, so there is a huge sea of bikes in front of the building. It is quite a sight since there is not a hole lot of bike riding in the US and I don't think I have ever seen so many bikes. What you can't see in the picture is that all the trees lining the walkway also have 3 or 4 bikes around each of them, so this is maybe only half of the total bikes in the area. I've thought about getting a bike, but then I remembered how bad I was at riding one and I would probably get run over by traffic or run over a nice old lady walking home from the grocery store, so I figured I'll just stick to walking.

Well, check back for the next tour stop...